Exponential Reading Skills

I started this blog in August.  At the same time I posted a read-along of Little Lion Bookworm reading Bob Shea's Dinosaur vs Bedtime.  At the time, Little Lion had memorized some of those words...and then something happened. 

You see, if you've been following this blog since the beginning, you may know that Little Lion thought she couldn't read.  She was very anxious about it and didn't want to start kindergarten because she felt her reading skills weren't up to par even though she had done well in pre-K.  (BTW, I don't think I was reading yet in Kindergarten.  I feel like learning to read early on is a newer thing in the last several decades.  But I could be wrong.  If you're an educator, please let me know.)

Then came kindergarten and she expanded on her skills.  And, like I said, she was reading picture books with some help and some memorization from repetition.  Then first grade happened.  And whether it was LL reaching for similar books as her bestie, Honey Lemon, who is an advanced reader or whether it was LL coming into her own, she began to read with confidence.  All of a sudden she exponentially surpassed all of her reading skills.  She moved on to early readers and is now reading several regular chapter books. 

Mini Me had a similar reading learning curve, though she rocketed past in the first few weeks/months of kindergarten after mostly teaching herself to read.  She didn't do a true pre-K program like Little Lion, but instead did a few days a week of preschool and then taught herself to read a few weeks before kindergarten started.  Then six weeks later, she was reading The Wizard of Oz series.  Forgive me if you've read this before, but I just happened to look on our youTube site to see what was going on with it, and realized just how far Little Lion has come in first grade. It's our most watched video read-along with over 1500 views.  Not a lot in the youTube universe, but a lot in the Bookworm household.

It's amazing.  It's a testament to both Little Lion and her school and wonderful teacher.  But it's also a testament to her friendship with her bestie, Honey Lemon.  And the tenacity of lions.

The video is posted below.  And Little Lion's year of first grade is ending.  It's been a good year for books, bookworms, and reading skills, and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next....and, yes, I've got a good feeling about this. :D

*** above graphic from Jeffrey Brown's Darth Vader and Friends.